Carmen Best, an American law enforcement officer who was born around 1965, was the chief of police for the Seattle Police Department from 2018 until 2020. She held this position for two full terms. She was the first woman of African descent to ever lead the Seattle Police Department. Due to the cuts in the budget, she made the announcement of her resignation in August of 2020, and she departed office for good on September 2 of that same year. She holds the position of Director of Global Security Risk Operations at Microsoft at the present time.
Best was born in Tacoma, Washington, where he also received his high school education at Lincoln. carmens best graduated from the University of Washington with a certificate in police management and from Northeastern University with a Master of Science degree in criminal justice. She is a graduate of the training programs offered by the FBI National Executive Institute, the FBI National Academy, the Criminal Justice Executive Leadership Academy, and the Major Cities Chiefs Association Police Executive Leadership Institute.
In 1992, she was hired by the Seattle Police Department, and prior to being promoted to the position of chief, she held the titles of officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and deputy chief. Her career in law enforcement began in Seattle. She took over as interim chief of police on January 1, 2018, succeeding Kathleen O’Toole, and was later appointed permanent chief by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, effective August 13, 2018. Her appointment as permanent chief takes effect from August 13, 2018. She made history by being the first black woman to hold the position of chief of police in Seattle.
She stated that she could not in good conscience shrink and thereby reduce diversity in the department which she had just grown by 110 officers in 2019, (with 40% of those new hires being persons of color)[9] noting that under police union rules, the last hired would be the first to be laid off, disproportionately affecting officers of color. On August 10, 2020, she resigned after the Seattle City Council voted to downsize the department by approximately 100 officers. She stated that she could not in good conscience shrink and thereby reduce In an acting capacity, Assistant Chief Adrian Z. Diaz has taken over for Best in the meantime. read more….
